We are hearing a lot about Sweden recently because of their massive influx of new members . But what of the other Nordic countries? It looks like Finland will be making the headlines in the coming days. The Finnish Pirates are fielding  121 candidates in 21 different municipalities in the municipal elections that are being held on Sunday 28 October 2012.

The Party
It is the biggest party, that does not yet have a representative in the country’s parliament. Considering that the party was first founded in the spring of 2008, this is a remarkable achievement. Their goal for these elections, is to rid local politics of the corruption inherent in the “old boy’s clubs” and they have manifestos to do just that.

New Voter Support
The 3,800 Finnish Pirates see this local elections as their best opportunity to become really involved in the political arena. In recent polls the party support can be found in the 18-28 year old range where they get 4.5% and in the secondary school “shadow” elections where they got 5.5%. The Pirates seem attractive to first time voters.

The Manifestos
Common to all manifestos are the Pirate principles and furthermore, polices that are drafted to meet the needs of Finland and the individual municipalities therein.

These include:

• Transparency of local government
• The rule of law
• Direct democracy in local government
• The right to privacy  in schools and workplace
• Equality in the provision of services and cultural activities
• Open licensing for education material for schools
• Open and uncensored online access for all residents through municipal services such as libraries and schools

Individual localities have special policies to meet local needs such as transport, taxation and healthcare provision. The policies are well thought out and expansive. The usual, lame charge of “lack of content” cannot be laid at the door of the Finnish Pirate Party.

We are looking forward to see a host of new people added to the list of those who can claim, “I voted for a Pirate”.

Piraattipuolue http://piraattipuolue.fi/ (Finnish)
Pirate Party of Finland -Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party_(Finland)

Featured image: by  Idhren CC BY-SA

edit: corrected the amount of candidates to 121.

About Andrew Reitemeyer

I joined the Pirate Party of Lower Saxony in Germany in April 2012, once I found out that non citizens were welcome to join and become active members of the Party.
I joined the Pirate Times soon after it was started as a proof reader and am now an editor and author. Since then I have returned to my native New Zealand and joined the Pirate Party of New Zealand.
Politically I come from the libertarian left and have, up to now, not regarded any political party as having a solution for the democratic deficit that envelops the world. With the advent of the Pirate Party, which truly embraces grass roots democracy, I have found a political home. The Pirate Times is a way I can contribute to furthering the Pirate Movement around the world.
Skype: frithogar

 

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We are hearing a lot about Sweden recently because of their massive influx of new members . But what of the other Nordic countries? It looks like Finland will be making…